U.S. stocks fell at the open on Monday as manufacturing growth
across Asia and Europe eased in November, while retailers could
be pressured as Thanksgiving weekend in-store sales failed to
impress. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.08
percent at 17,814.06, the S&P 500 was down 0.46 percent
at 2,058 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.92 percent
at 4,747.36.

** APPLE INC, $116.1398, -2.35 pct

The iPad maker's shares tumbled in early trading. The cause
of the decline was not yet clear, though traders pointed to
high-speed algorithmic trading programs as a potential culprit.
Steve Hammer, a trading educator and founder of HFT Alert in
Santa Barbara, California, which monitors algorithmic trading,
said about 300 different stocks showed elevated price traffic
beginning about 9:50 a.m. EST, a sign of institutions putting on
sell programs.

Morgan Stanley strategists dropped Apple's weighting in
their strategic portfolio to 3 percent from 4 percent in an
equity outlook note released Monday, but traders said the
swiftness of the decline was too dramatic to be attributed
solely to the note.